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Oh, you didn’t get the word?
The President announced sweeping military policy changes on Wednesday, via Twitter, regarding transgender service members. Beginning, uh… Sometime… Transgender service members will no longer be allowed in the military full-stop. This came as a total shock to the Department of Defense itself, as Secretary of Defense Mattis was on vacation, and General Dunford–the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff–put out a memo stating that no policy changes would occur until they received direction from the White House.
“I know there are questions about yesterday’s announcement on the transgender policy by the president,” Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a memo to military leaders. “There will be no modifications to the current policy until the president’s direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance.”
“In the meantime, we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect,” Dunford added.
Regardless of how you feel on the subject, I think it’s safe to say that Twitter probably isn’t the military’s first choice as far as passing down important word goes.
I brought up my own personal feelings on the subject on Wednesday, to which many maligned and disagreed–a few even quite respectfully–but I stand by what I said. Of course, Terminal Lance is always apolitical, but I feel like it would be strangely out of character for me to completely ignore a massive policy change that directly affects the entire United States Armed Forces.
The trans issue is unique in that, while it’s comparable in theory to homosexuals openly serving and even desegregation, it actually involves real logistics in regards to medical costs and confusing gray areas with PT standards and co-ed training. It is my personal belief that these are pretty easily solved and mostly innocuous issues to get hung up on, considering the very small number of trans service members currently active duty (about 5,000).
My solution is quite simple, and one that I’ve argued for in the past:
Remove all gender-based standards. A singular PFT that all must pass–male or female–to do the job required of a Marine… Any Marine.
Yes, you will lose a lot of weaker females (and males) and otherwise, but you will end up with a stronger military as a whole. It is the only real solution to both the transgender paradox and women in the infantry.
For the record, I refuse to shy away from subjects for fear of partisan backlash. If Terminal Lance and myself did things the same way as everyone else, it wouldn’t exist. So I’m gonna keep doing what I do, and you are welcome to go read content that doesn’t offend you.
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